Читать книгу How to Be a Lawyer - Jason Mendelson - Страница 33

This course is mandatory for a reason: it's all about you keeping your bar card, staying out of jail, and not showing up in the news for the wrong reasons. Unbelievably, there are a surprising number of lawyers who screw this stuff up.

Some didn't pay attention in class, some don't think things through, and some are just plain bad lawyers. In any event, while a lot of this is common sense, some is much more nuanced so pay attention.

This class may be boring and seemingly obvious, but there are two things to which you should pay particular attention. The first is conflicts of interest. The concept seems so simple, correct? Wrong. What do you do when you represent a company, and the CEO tells you to do something that you feel is not in the best interest of the company? For instance, the CEO says, “Please prepare a new employment agreement for me that doubles my salary.” Is that in the best interest of the company? Do you have a conflict? We'll go into this and other scenarios in depth later in the book but for now consider that some conflicts are not so obvious.

The second is around the attorney–client relationship. It's imperative to know when you've created one, when you haven't, and when it's a bit ambiguous. Remember that it is from the client's, not your, eyes that determine whether there is a relationship. This means that you need to be careful of that three-drink advice you gave someone at a bar. You may have created a relationship that you don't want to have.

Bottom line: This class is the building block for many nuanced real-life situations. While most of these classes are limited to “just the facts,” realize that the subject matter extends much more broadly than a law school professor is probably used to teaching. Throughout this book, we'll bring these issues into real-life examples.

Having finished up with the mandatory classes, let's dig into electives you might want to consider.